DEFA-Borderless: Mobility and Space
International DEFA Conference at the University of Erfurt
In a collaboration between the DEFA Foundation and the University of Erfurt, the symposium "DEFA- Borderless: Mobility and Space" (DEFA-Grenzenlos: Mobilität und Raum) took place from March 25 to 27, 2026. The event provided a forum for examining the circulation of cinematic images across physical and systemic boundaries from an academic perspective.
For three days, the DEFA film heritage took center stage at an international academic conference held at the Communication and Information Center of the University of Erfurt. Participants examined the topic of "Mobility and Space" from two perspectives: On the one hand, they focused on the content level — that is, travel and places as motifs within the films themselves. On the other hand, the institutional level was analyzed, with a focus on transnational interconnections as well as the cross-border export and import of DEFA productions.
The event opened with a welcoming address by Minister of State Elisabeth Kaiser, who, as the Federal Government Commissioner for East Germany, had assumed patronage of the event. The University of Erfurt’s Executive Board, represented by Prof. Dr. Sven Jöckel, and the Managing Director of the DEFA Foundation, Stefanie Eckert, then welcomed the participants before the organizers, Prof. Dr. Dr. Patrick Rössler and Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko, kicked off the academic portion of the conference with their introductory remarks.
Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko and Prof. Dr. Dr. Patrick Rössler in conversation. Photography: University of Erfurt
Managing Director of the DEFA Foundation, Stefanie Eckert, during her opening remarks. Photography: University of Erfurt
The 22 presentations were organized into various thematic areas. The topics ranged from the analysis of imaginary travel spaces and changing urban and landscape imagery to discussions of national and international production and distribution contexts. In addition to the lecture program and expert discussions, participants had the opportunity to tour the collections of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Historical Media at the University of Erfurt.
![[Translate to English:] DEFA-Grenzenlos: Mobilität und Raum](https://www.defa-stiftung.de/fileadmin/DEFA_Stiftung/_processed_/5/5/csm_DEFATagung_2026_142_e162106c15.jpg "[Translate to English:] DEFA-Grenzenlos: Mobilität und Raum")
Dr. des. Carla Steinbrecher gave a lecture titled “The Proud Women Farmers— Gender, Labor, and Representation in GDR Documentaries about Rural Life.” Photography: University of Erfurt
Dr. Maciej Peplinski spoke on “Ambivalent Fantasies. Space and Time in DEFA’s Utopian Films” Photography: University of Erfurt
The public evening program featured the DEFA feature film The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, 1976), which was presented in a newly digitized version thanks to the Förderprogramm Filmerbe. Director Egon Günther and screenwriter Helga Schütz staged Werther not merely as a romantic tragedy, but as a decidedly political statement. In a subsequent panel discussion, Dr. Ulrike Lorenz (President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar) and Stefanie Eckert discussed different interpretations of the work as well as the relevance of Goethe’s work in today’s world.
The Foundation extends its heartfelt thanks to the organizers, Prof. Dr. Dr. Patrick Rössler and Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko, as well as the participating students from Erfurt, for the successful staging of the event.
A discussion on THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER with Stefanie Eckert, Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko, and Dr. Ulrike Lorenz. Photography: University of Erfurt
Lively discussions at the university's Communication and Information Center between presentations. Photography: University of Erfurt
Strengthening the research network and building valuable links between academia and practice remain central priorities of the DEFA Foundation. The next symposium co-organized by the DEFA Foundation is scheduled for 2028. For preliminary information about the next symposium and the corresponding submission deadlines, please contact info@defa-stiftung.de. We would be happy to add your contact information to our mailing list.
Programm
The complete conference program is available as a PDF document (in German)
Wednesday - March 25, 2026
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- Starting at 10:30 a.m.: Registration
- 11:00 a.m.: Welcome address by the Executive Board of the University of Erfurt
- 11:10 a.m.: Remarks by Elisabeth Kaiser, Member of the German Bundestag and Federal Government Commissioner for East Germany
- 11:20 a.m.: Remarks by Stefanie Eckert, Managing Director of the DEFA Foundation
- 11:30 a.m.: Introduction by Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko, University of Erfurt
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Moderation: Prof. Dr. Dr. Patrick Rössler (Erfurt)
- 12:00 p.m.: Dr. Elizabeth Ward (Frankfurt/Oder): Prestige, Politics, and Problematic Protagonists: DEFA at International Film Festivals in the West
- 12:30 p.m.: Freya Glomb & Dr. Alexander Zöllner (Potsdam): Around the World as Footage: The “Archive for Scientific Film” as an Actor in the Global Circulation of Images
- 1:00 p.m.: Dr. Anna Luise Kiss (Berlin): Borderless? The (Im)possible Pathways of Indiana Jones Reception for GDR Citizens
- 2:15 p.m.: Open Space: Reports on Current Research on the DEFA
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Moderation: Stefanie Eckert (Berlin)
- 3:00 p.m.: PD Dr. Ralf Forster (Potsdam): Vacations for Everyone and Vacations in Foreign-Currency Hotels: Travel Promotion Films from the GDR
- 3:30 p.m.: Dr. Andreas Kötzing (Dresden): From a Place of Adventure and Longing to a Border Experience: The Baltic Sea in DEFA Films and Post-Reunification Cinema
- 4:00 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Heiduschke (Oregon): DEFA as Consumer Goods: TURLIS’S ADVENTURES (TURLIS ABENTEUER) in America
- 4:45 p.m.: Excursion to the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Historical Media (IFhM), Steinplatz 2, 99085 Erfurt
- 7:30 p.m.: Dinner at “Kromer’s Restaurant & Gewölbekeller,” Kleine Arche 4, 99084 Erfurt
Thursday - March 26, 2026
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Moderation: PD Dr. Ralf Forster (Potsdam)
- 9:30 a.m.: Luci Cook (Michigan): The Geography of Solidarity: Vietnam–Berlin Trajectories in Heynowski & Scheumann’s Vietnamzyklus
- 10:00 a.m.: Réka Gulyás (Berlin): And Next Year at Lake Balaton? Hungary in DEFA Cinema: Between Longing and Socialist Reality
- 11:00 a.m.: Prof. Dr. Andrzej Gwóźdź (Katowice): Forced Immobility—As Far as Bulgaria and No Further, but with Cuba on the Horizon
- 11:30 a.m.: Catharina Göldner (Potsdam): A Look Beyond Borders in the Films of Iris Gusner
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Moderation: Dr. Andreas Kötzing (Dresden)
- 1:30 p.m.: Dr. Anne Barnert (Jena/Dresden): Between ZDF and DEFA: How the Export Film Kristallnacht (1988) Became Caught Up in a Conflict Over Memory
- 2:00 p.m.: Dr. Perrine Val (Montpellier): Away from the spotlight: DEFA‘s presence in regional France
- 2:30 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Claudia Sandberg (Melbourne): Mobility, Exile, and Cultural Translation in A Chilean Wedding (EINE CHILENISCHE HOCHZEIT)
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Moderation: Dr. Elizabeth Ward (Frankfurt/Oder)
- 3:30 p.m.: Dr. Carla Steinbrecher (Magdeburg): The Proud Women Farmers (IM MÄRZEN DIE BÄUERIN) – Gender, Labor, and Representation in GDR Documentaries about Rural Life
- 4:00 p.m.: Prof. Dr. Seán Allan (St. Andrews): “A Village Becomes a Movie Star.” Conflict, Space, and Displacement in DEFA’s Representations of Rural Life in the 1940s and 50s
- 4:45 p.m.: Dr. Mariana Ivanova (Amherst): Memories of Sorbian Landscapes in DEFA Films: The Politics of Mobility, Relocation, and Heritage in DEFA Films, 1973–1989
- 5:15 p.m.: Dr. Victoria Rizo Lenshyn (Amherst): Bearing Witness through Film: Günter Lippmann’s Farewell Beautiful Forest ("Wer hat dich, du schöner Wald..." ...oder Wie ein Film VERHINDERT wurde), the Anthropo(s)cene, and Censorship
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- 7:00 p.m.: Film screening of The Sorrows of Young Werther (DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHERS, 1976) – followed by a discussion with Dr. Ulrike Lorenz, President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, and Stefanie Eckert, Executive Director of the DEFA Foundation
Communication and Information Center, Max-Weber-Allee 1, HS 2
- 7:00 p.m.: Film screening of The Sorrows of Young Werther (DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHERS, 1976) – followed by a discussion with Dr. Ulrike Lorenz, President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, and Stefanie Eckert, Executive Director of the DEFA Foundation
Friday - March 27, 2026
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Moderation: Prof. Dr. Michael Grisko (Erfurt)
- 9:30 a.m.: Prof. Dr. Dennis Gräf (Passau): Living Spaces in DEFA Science Fiction Films. Conceptions of the State, Politics, and Science in The Silent Star (DER SCHWEIGENDE STERN, 1960), Signals: A Space Adventure (Signale - Ein Weltraumabenteuer, 1970) and EOLOMEA (1972)
- 10:00 a.m.: Dr. Maciej Peplinski (Berlin): Ambivalent Fantasies. Space and Time in DEFA’s Utopian Films
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Moderation: Dr. Anne Barnert (Jena/Dresden)
- 11:00 a.m.: Evelyn Hampicke (Berlin): Stalin-Allee and Karl-Marx-Allee in DEFA Feature Films. Depicting Progress Through Female Characters and Architecture
- 11:30 a.m.: Émilie Duranceau-Lapointe (Ann Arbor/Berlin): Western Heroes in a Concrete World: Berlin-Marzahn in 1980s DEFA Films
- 12:00 p.m.: Dr. Stephan Ehrig (Glasgow): The Aufbau City and the Child Flâneur: The Valiant Truant (DER TAPFERE SCHULSCHWÄNZER, 1967)
- 12:30 p.m.: Closing Remarks
- 1:00 p.m.: End of the Conference
- 1:15 p.m.: Field Trip to the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Historical Media (IFhM), Steinplatz 2, 99085 Erfurt